The Los Angeles Dodgers received a rude welcoming from a nine-game road trip as an ongoing heatwave in Southern California turned Dodger Stadium into a launching pad.
Despite being a league-average power team, the Seattle Mariners slugged five home runs to notch a comeback win and outlast the Dodgers in a back-and-forth affair.
Mariners 7, Dodgers 6: key takeaways
Max Muncy’s Dodger Stadium home runs
Amid the onslaught of power swings was Max Muncy hitting his 21st home run of the season, which gave the Dodgers a lead in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The homer was also Muncy’s 130th of his career at Dodger Stadium. That has him tied with Eric Karros for the most home runs in Dodger Stadium history.
While on the road trip, Muncy moved into second place on the all-time Los Angeles franchise history home run list.
Justin Wrobleski’s batted ball luck
While Justin Wrobleski has seen a recent increase in strikeouts and less reliance on balls in play, that was the reverse Tuesday night. Wrobleski surrendered a career-worst four home runs over six innings. He curiously threw 102 pitches and remained in the game despite struggling and the Dodgers’ intentions to monitor Wrobleski’s workload.
Cal Raleigh, who has struggled all season, hit the Mariners’ first long ball of the night. Julio Rodríguez, Rob Refsnyder and Dominic Canzone also homered off Wrobleski. Canzone later hit a second homer of the night off Alex Vesia to give the Mariners their decided lead in the eighth inning.
Wrobleski particularly struggled in the fourth inning as all three hits he gave up came with two outs. He didn’t retire the side in order until the fifth inning.
Prior to his start against the Mariners, the left-hander had not give up more than two homers in a game since allowing three on Aug. 16, 2024. That came in Wrobleski’s fifth start of his career.
Missed opportunities
Shohei Ohtani hit his 28th leadoff home run with the Dodgers, tying Davey Lopes for second-most in franchise history. The Dodgers record belongs to Mookie Betts, who has 32 career leadoff home runs in his time with the team.
Ohtani’s home run was an early spark for the Dodgers but the night largely was about not taking full advantage of their chances.
One being when they loaded the bases with nobody out in the third inning, only to manage one run when Freddie Freeman grounded into a double play.
The Dodgers then sent eight batters to the plate in the fourth, but scored just two runs. Some of that was a result of Kyle Tucker getting a bad read on Ohtani’s soft RBI single into center field.
Dalton Rushing’s leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth was followed by an RBI double from Ohtani. He took third on the Mariners’ misplay in the gap but was stranded there.
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